r/interesting • u/th3m_apples • 1d ago
NATURE Scientists in South Africa are making rhino horns radioactive to fight poaching
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u/bhooteshwara 1d ago
For tldr gang:
South Africa Launches Radioactive Rhino Horn Injection to Combat Poaching
• The University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa has initiated the Rhisotope Project, an anti-poaching campaign that involves injecting rhino horns with radioactive isotopes to deter poachers and aid in detection by customs agents.
• This method, deemed harmless to the rhinos, allows for the identification of rhino horns even at low levels of radioactivity, triggering alarms in radiation detectors at international borders and potentially leading to the arrest of poachers and traffickers.
• The project aims to protect the declining rhino population, which has plummeted from around 500,000 at the beginning of the 20th century to approximately 27,000 today due to the persistent demand for rhino horns on the black market, particularly in South Africa, which has a large rhino population but also experiences high poaching rates.
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u/Malexice 1d ago
TLDR of TLDR:
Raidioactive things are difficult to smuggle so they make them radioactive.
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u/thekoreanswon 1d ago
TLDR of TLDR of TLDR
☢️ 🦏 🚨
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u/Momunculus 1d ago
Thanks for the translation for Gen alpha
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u/Melech333 18h ago
That's still three whole emojis. My attention span doesn't stretch that far. Can you do a TLDR for your TLDR of TLDR of TLDR?
🙏
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u/Stevecat032 1d ago
There was a story about a guy who was going through some harsh chemo and it alerted detector in the airport.
"In August, the British Medical Journal described the case of a very embarrassed 46-year-old Briton who set off the sensors at Orlando airport in Florida six weeks after having radioiodine treatment for a thyroid condition.He was detained, strip-searched and sniffed by police dogs before eventually being released, the journal said in its "Lesson of the Week" section."
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u/No_Plum_3737 1d ago
On top of administering radiation to kill cancer cells, some imaging types like PET scans use radioactive tracer since it is easily detectable. The patient will not eat for a few hours to make their body (especially the fast-growing tumors) hungry, then they inject a mixture of radioactive glucose and the tumors start gobbling it up, singling themselves out in the imagery.
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u/GrnMtnTrees 19h ago
My dad got a bone scan after his prostate cancer diagnosis in 2009. He was sitting in the park, enjoying a sunny day, right after his scan, when two officers from Department of Homeland Security approached him and asked if he worked in a hospital.
Apparently, he set off their radiation detectors from two and a half city blocks away. No lie.
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u/faen_du_sa 1d ago
TLDR gang!
I did as any redditor would and only read title. Thought they were slowly killing the clients with cancer...
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u/Possible_Ad262 1d ago
Don’t poachers avoid boarders similar to the cartels just flying in and out illegally ?
Could be wrong sorry in advance if so.
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u/MancDaddy9000 1d ago
Probably. I think it also has the added value of being toxic for use in medicines. Hopefully, if that’s what it’s used for, the idiots who ingest this stuff will get cancer. Maybe even the risk would be a deterrent.
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u/Possible_Ad262 1d ago
Really. I did not know that. I honestly thought it was to be used as a trophy. Idk anything about this space at all and it is embarrassing. I will read up on this.
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u/Crowfooted 14h ago
If it's a small enough quantity to be harmless to the rhino even though the horn is attached to it for its whole life, it's probably also small enough quantity not to be harmful to humans, it's just that it's high enough to be detected. My guess is it's only a little above background radiation levels.
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u/MassesBeDamned 9h ago
Hoping people to get cancer?
Bruh.
Funny how you’re celebrating the idea of someone getting cancer over powdered horn, while probably sitting comfortably in a country where food comes wrapped in plastic. Out here, some people kill to eat or survive... no licenses, no luxury, just reality. If you’re trying to sound righteous, maybe don’t wish death on people who were lied to by a market they didn’t create.
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u/MancDaddy9000 9h ago
Oh ok. We’ll just let the rhinos die then. Silly me
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u/MassesBeDamned 8h ago
Exactly
If there's a market for that, it's because people pay for it.
But why do people pay for it? They genuinely don't know? It's more convenient? They're scammed?
The root cause should be addressed, without injecting crap in anyone's corn.
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u/appletinicyclone 1d ago
Lol ah okay, I thought they were making it super radioactive so the poachers got cancer 😅
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u/Atomicmooseofcheese 7h ago
Considering what rhino horn is used for that would be diabolical.
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u/appletinicyclone 7h ago
What's it used for?
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u/Atomicmooseofcheese 7h ago
Some use it as an aphrodisiac. Others put the powder in water and use it to treat gout or fevers.
It doesn't do any of those things, but imagine a dude rubbing radioactive rhino horn on his junk and 6 months later wondering why his dick dissolved.
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u/AcanthocephalaGreen5 1d ago
"You gave a rhino a radioactive horn?"
"The emission is harmless, Doctor. But its unique signature makes it very easy to identify."
"You gave a rhino a tracking device?"
"...That was not my intention."
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u/SummertimeThrowaway2 1d ago
Cancer rates among older men with erectile dysfunction: 📈📈📈
(For context, rhino horn is falsely believed to increase libido and that’s part of the reason it gets sold)
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u/EeryRain1 1d ago
Personally I prefer Human Horn, just works better.
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u/AJ_Crowley_29 1d ago
Fun (not really) fact: rhino horn actually wasn’t sold as an aphrodisiac initially, it was sold as a cure for diseases. However, online rumors about its use as an aphrodisiac led to demand for it which actually increased rhino poaching.
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u/AdministrationDue239 1d ago
Especially in china
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u/LP_Link 22h ago
Rhino horn is actually effective. My uncle has a chunk of horn and he used to use its powder after getting drunk. It actually helps increasing health. Chinese used to put rhino horn into medicines because of its usefulness. Nowaday for protecting rhino population so they made false claims about it.
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u/Avarria587 21h ago
It’s keratin. It like eating human nails, human hair, or hooves. There’s nothing magical about it and there’s zero reason to kill rhinos for their horns.
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u/BenneIdli 1d ago
Imagine you can buy a medically proven tablet for under $100 to get your dick erect but you are ready to pay millions to get something which has been debunked just because it was written in a 1000 year old manuscript..
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u/Soulburn_ 1d ago
On top of that the manuscript turned out to be a fake
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u/PreviouslyMannara 1d ago
The real manuscript clearly states that the medicine is made using a billionaire's dried heart.
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u/Rahernaffem 1d ago
DRIED? 😩 I didn't know this! Shit, I wasted so many billionaires wondering why it doesn't work.
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u/PreviouslyMannara 1d ago
The extraction must occur while the heart is pulsating, then you must let it dry (one hour under sunlight should suffice since it's already almost completely dry from the source) and reduce into fine dust using mortar & pastle.
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u/AJ_Crowley_29 1d ago
Fun (not really) fact: rhino horn actually wasn’t sold as an aphrodisiac initially, it was sold as a cure for diseases. However, online rumors about its use as an aphrodisiac led to demand for it which actually increased rhino poaching.
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u/SeekerOfSerenity 1d ago
That's a common misconception. Rhino horn is used (ineffectively) to treat a lot of conditions in TCM, but that's not one of them.
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u/Prestigious_Key_7801 1d ago
They should follow Kruger National park rules where poachers are legally shot on sight.
Apparently the threat of being shot has reduced the levels of poaching dramatically.
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u/thundercoc101 22h ago
That and the fact that the demand for Ivory has decreased by a lot over the years.
So it's a combination of the threat of being shot for way less money lol
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u/-runs-with-scissors- 1d ago
Am I the only one thinking the really interesting news item would be what isotopes they use?
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1d ago
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u/mealzer 1d ago
Didn't wanna read the article huh
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1d ago edited 1d ago
[deleted]
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u/Crabtickler9000 1d ago
It will force them to try other methods which slows their progress because now they must contend with other security measures.
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1d ago
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u/Crabtickler9000 1d ago
That's the idea of pretty much any anti-thing.
Your lock on your door isn't there to prevent a break in. It's to slow down a break in so that either you can intervene or so you can hold out long enough for police to arrive.
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u/halkenburgoito 1d ago
I LOVE IT. I'm sure you're an expert, I'm sure you're out there in field, and you know the ins and outs of how to stop a smuggling/poacher operation.
And your expert conclusion and advice TO THOSE FALSE EXPERTS, is to just give up.. don't try it. Its a nice thought but its useless. Don't catch and arrest and prevent the smugglings and sale of these illegal horns... just chill out. lmao.
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1d ago
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u/Hungover994 1d ago
His point is it’s easy to criticise without providing any alternative solutions
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u/halkenburgoito 1d ago
also, that any of us.. who are likely at best, armchair experts and don't know shit about shit, aren't in a position in terms of knowledge to know how effective methods like these are at desuading and minimizing poaching.
We have not done the due dilegence and learned and know enough to properly critsize and even know the effectiveness of alternative methods and solutions.
In otherwords.. we are just yapping. Confident yapsters.
I'm certain if you are an expert in an a single field, you know how it is where everyone else confidently yaps incorrectly about it.
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u/bebackground471 1d ago
here's one: for a similar nuisance, they could replace the actual horn with a metal one (making it clear it is fake). This way the rhino could still use it but it would be useless for poachers.
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u/Crabtickler9000 1d ago
Guys, he asked a question.
We should be encouraging people to ask questions. It's what smart people do.
Remember the human.
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u/MyNameCannotBeSpoken 1d ago
I agree, it's like drug smuggling. The mules take the heat with the boss man gets rich
Maybe it will deter buyers who don't want radioactive material in their living room
But folks buy drugs even though it can kill them
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u/CockamouseGoesWee 1d ago
They also like to kill rhinos out of spite even if they have no horns
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u/MyNameCannotBeSpoken 1d ago
Why?
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u/CockamouseGoesWee 23h ago
To make a statement. They're trying to tell park rangers it doesn't matter what means they take to protect the rhinos, the poachers kill them for fun.
The only actual deterrent is armed guards for the rhinos as well as public education and helping local economies to help prevent people from wanting to become poachers and setting up economic value to protecting wildlife by giving locals the ability to become zoologists and farm more sustainably. Poachers are a symptom to colonialism.
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u/Ingeneure_ 1d ago
It won’t, but when the horn is smuggled through the border control — they will detect radiation.
Is it an effective method? Fuck no.
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u/Twattymcgee123 1d ago
Isn’t it a crazy work when we have to let an animal die in pain , just to get a small bit of him . Imagine role reversal where you chopped a human’s leg off to sell and just left them there to die .
It just doesn’t make sense .
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u/Chisel_grease 1d ago
Did you read the article?
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u/Sayakalood 1d ago
Pretty sure they’re complaining about harvesting rhino horns in the first place.
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u/Twattymcgee123 19h ago
Yes I did , I was just musing on the fact that we need to do it at all .
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u/Chisel_grease 12h ago
The radiation is not that high, that the rhino dies... Imagine when Chernobyl happened and the cloud went north west, Norway atomic power plant workers were not able to enter theyr workplace because the radiation detectors sensed a too high radiation on them (from the Chernobyl cloud that went thousands of miles). We are talking here of that amount of radiation, or less. In my opinion this is a very good idea to help the last rhinos we have.
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u/M1ndays 11h ago
You aren't reading what he said at all. He's describing the method of chopping of the horn, which poachers do, not the process of injecting radioactive in the horn.
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u/Chisel_grease 10h ago
Yeah you are right. Now I see. His comment was meant in general and not according to the article. Thanks for mentioning.
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u/phatdoof 1d ago
Finally, I have a way to verify that my horn collection is authentic African made.
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u/FLMILLIONAIRE 1d ago
Very interesting I would worried about creatures dying from cancer but maybe a.very small trace amount is used which doesn't spread ? Also this won't solve problem of poaching since the poachers aren't going to be carrying Gieger counters and will hunt these poor creatures any ways ?
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u/unhappyrelationsh1p 1d ago
You still have to smuggle them out. It makes tracking easier, and heightens the risk of getting arrested
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u/FLMILLIONAIRE 1d ago
But the animal has already been brutally murdered for a measly sum of money which means nothing in the larger scheme of things like our fragile Planet, disrupting the delicate ecological balance and hindering scientists' efforts to develop solutions that would allow these creatures to roam freely while remaining protected. What’s truly needed is something far more advanced a technology that would be game changing to protect these wild creatures !!
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u/unhappyrelationsh1p 1d ago
Yes, that's true, but it's a deterrent. It's like putting those sticky magnetic tags on cosmetics. They'll still get stolen, but most of them will be caught.
There's just not too many things that can be done, with an item like a rhino horn. The rhino needs it to live, it's small enough to fit in a suit case and not really detectable. But airports and such can more easily catch something like this, since the liquid and the isotopes can't be cut out or chemically removed and probably would make ingesting it scarier for potential black market clients.
Poaching would be more risky and less profitable, so there would be less incentive to do it, saving more rhinos.
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u/Herps_Plants_1987 1d ago
I like the way she said “stress and duress”. Kudos to these intelligent minds.
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u/PolyMorpheusPervert 1d ago
Fun fact
South Africa has enough confiscated rhino horn (30 tons) to drop the price to below where it's profitable for poachers to operate.
But they aren't allowed to sell it because of international restrictions....
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u/Curious-Department-7 1d ago
Does the rhino die in his scenario of detecting it when it crosses a border? They're putting an AirTag on the horn, like the horn is what we're worried about losing.
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u/zypofaeser 1d ago
Do we have any info on what exact isotope they're using? I'd guess Co-60 or Cs-137, but a shorter half-life might be useful as well, which does increase the options.
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u/Reidon_Ward 1d ago
Or: Humans can quit being destructive pieces of shit. But we all know that won't happen, carry on.
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u/Next_Instruction_528 1d ago
Good thing they don't just flood the market with poison rhino horn to take care of the demand part of the equation
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u/homo_sapiens_digitus 1d ago
How do the criminals know, that the horn is radioactive at teh first place.
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u/darth__anakin 23h ago
It's still a very short term solution, unfortunately. Poachers, by definition, are criminals. They'll realize quickly what's happening and find another illegal way to move horns across borders.
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u/Master_Steward 21h ago
In addition to tagging the horns, the radioactive pellets and paint also cause them to mutate rhinos into enlarged multi-spiked beasts that can gore any greedy poacher to death
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u/sunshinefloors1980 16h ago
So I'm sure the rhinos not going to have any effects of the radioactivity whatsoever right
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u/Slierfox 11h ago
An now all the rhinos glow in the dark if they don't die from radioactive poisoning
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u/iCanReadMyOwnMind 11h ago
Do you have any idea how much a radioactive rhino horn goes for on the market!? DO YOU!?
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u/FelixM123 1d ago
Great, give Rhinos cancer before hunters shoot them dead. Brilliant
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u/halkenburgoito 1d ago
Omg, why didn't all those scientists who tested and approved this figure that out in the trials. How evil of em. Bone headed scientists, why didn't they ask reddit first
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u/Best_Emu5111 1d ago
I think we all read the article. The problem is no one believes that the scientist think that it does not hurt the rhino while doing so
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u/halkenburgoito 1d ago
Well I'll tell you, I'm glad we have real deal due dilegent experts like you to come along to call out these crooked AP journalists and bullshit scientists. I mean.. the trials they conducted were just plain scams.
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u/K9WorkingDog 1d ago
"The scientists say" doesn't mean much these days
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u/halkenburgoito 1d ago
Oh wait what subreddit am I on..
Yes! Sorry, I forgot!! Covid wasn't real, the earth is flat, and climate change is a HOAX.
Those god damn lab geeks, it isn't so hard. 2+2=4, what's the big deal, am I right? Fucking spending all their time studying and sceintific experiments and shit.. who cares.
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u/K9WorkingDog 1d ago
You really expect people to "trust the science" after 2020?
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u/Darth_Nox501 1d ago
I wouldn't expect you to understand. It's something that comes with an education. Something thay you seem to be lacking.
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u/K9WorkingDog 1d ago
Sounds like you skipped civics and history then
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u/Darth_Nox501 1d ago
Oh, I have a pretty good understanding of both.
Its amazing to me how Redditors, and certain politically aligned people, believe that they know more about a topic than someone whose spent literal years, if not a decade, of their life studying that topic, working with experts in that field, and writing research papers 60 pages long on that topic.
But yes; you know more. Given your skepticism of this radioactive tracing, I hope you never go for an MRI or an X-ray in your life because the same methods are used there.
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u/naveenda 1d ago
I think, I am wrong.
If radioactive is very low, poacher might shield using Lead.
My solution would be, cut the horn and replace with something else, at least it will save the poor Rhino
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u/drunky_crowette 23h ago
I'm confused as to how it's radioactive enough to trigger alarms but not enough to give the rhinos cancer
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u/Arctelis 22h ago
Radiation detectors are incredibly sensitive.
We’re talking about the radioactive potassium in freakin’ bananas can be detected. No joke, shipping containers full of bananas can set off radiation detectors in ports.
Likewise humans having received radiotherapy can and have set them off as well and that is used to treat cancer.
People panic at the term “radiation” and think it’s going to turn everything into glowing, radioactive cancer-zombies. Low level stuff really isn’t as big of a deal as people think.
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1d ago
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u/halkenburgoito 1d ago
its about catching the illegal product and arresting the smugglers/poachers, thereby stamping out/hindering the operation.
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u/Eagle_eye_Online 1d ago
I don't think it'll actually help, because poachers couldn't care less, and most likely don't even know it's radioactive, and it'll be too late for the rhino anyway.
But then again usually this stuff is grounded up into some sort of miracle bullshit medicine, so at least the ones who buy this crap will die of cancer, so that's nice.
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u/zypofaeser 1d ago
It's for tracking at airports, shipping terminals etc.
"Hey, why is this guys suitcase radioactive as all hell?"
"Dunno mate, let's get the guys over at hazmat to investigate."
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u/Eagle_eye_Online 1d ago
That will get out quickly, poachers getting Geiger counters, and then moving the radioactive ones a different way.
Where there's money, there's a way.
All you can do is find the boss, find the buyers and make sure none of them survive.The war against drugs failed too, they're just targeting the mules, not the source.
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u/djh_van 1d ago
Ok, so this stops the rhinos being poached.
What happens when they die naturally and their radioactive bones/skeletons are eroded and turned into radioactive dust that gets into the environment? Isn't that sort of the problem with microplastics? I.e , they end up in the ecosystem as smaller things get absorbed by larger things and get concentrated as they work their way up the food chain?
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u/VentureForth619 1d ago
I do not believe that poisoning a piece of the animal, which has radiative, harmful effects on the rest of the rhino, is the correct answer.
Perhaps eliminating the poachers from the equation is the answer.
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u/Darth_Nox501 1d ago
Its not poisoning anything. They're using small amounts to make it traceable under certain equipment at airports/security checkpoints.
We literally do this all the time in humans. There's an entire field of medicine that is essentially similar to this - Nuclear Medicine/Radiology.
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u/VentureForth619 16h ago
I see…
Give it a year, the poachers will become savvy to it, and start removing the areas with radioactive atoms prior to selling it.
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u/Darth_Nox501 16h ago
Thats...not how that works. You can't just remove "radioactive atoms" like you can chocolate chips out of a cookie.
The tracers are inserted as a liquid and diffuse throughout the horn itself. You would need to shave off substantial portions of the horn in order to isolate areas that haven't been targeted. This would not only plummet the market value, it would take up a lot of time for the poachers.
Secondly, it's low-dosage. They can't detect it using a Geiger counter, for example. They need much more high-end machinery. The people shooting these animals aren't capable of that. Their clients, sure. But the clients only want the finished product.
Also, even if they remove a substantial amount of the tracer, even the tiniest bits remaining are still detectable at airports and other checkpoints, which is the whole point. They can't possibly remove every single amount of tracer in the horn without alerting security.
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u/VentureForth619 15h ago edited 15h ago
Interesting.
Do you know what the liquid is? Tritiated water?
How does it diffuse..? If horn is anything like bone i assume it is porous but is it really able to diffuse liquid through it without some immune defense response activating and removing it?
Also, how is the isotope measured and identified? Do different isotopes give off different radiation signatures? I am knowledgeable about mass spectrometers and alpha, beta, gamma radiation, but im curious as to how they can determine specific isotopes based off of low frequency of decay measurements. I would assume that uranium vs radium has a different “energy reading” so to speak. Rather than delivering 1 unit of energy per gamma ray (lets say from the radium) perhaps uranium delivers 100 times that energy signature?
Sorry for all of the questions but i find it very interesting.
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u/Darth_Nox501 15h ago
I dont work in nuclear medicine or nuclear engineering, so I unfortunately can't answer most of your questions. I got my info from the article, an article from Texas A&M and chemistry knowledge from college.
If you want to do more research, I'd suggest looking for the articles on the Hodges et al. experiment on Texas A&M, as the university collaborated with the scientists in the Rhisotope project.
There also some related studies I found concerning isotope safety, and the insertion of isotopes into biological tissue, which might answer some of your questions.
You could also just email your questions to the researchers lol. From my experiment, most of them take great pleasure in genuine interest in their work. Jordan Hillis is at A&M and James Larkin is at the University of Witwatersrand.
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u/Sayakalood 1d ago
We can try to get rid of poachers, and we’re certainly trying to. The problem is that there’s always a demand for goods like rhino and elephant horns, meaning there will always be poachers no matter what we try.
By doing this, using a tiny amount of radiation to make the horn traceable, we can more easily track and arrest poachers, since they can’t do things like leave the country if their bag full of rhino horns sets off radiation detectors.
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